Avs draft pick Conner Bleackley is in town for the team’s development camp. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

A lot of people ask “what is development camp all about?” and this story tries to answer that question.
It’s about “learning to be a pro” off the ice, essentially. The newest first-round pick of the Avalanche, center Conner Bleackley (I’m sure to misspell this name at some point) talked to a few reporters today about what it’s been like at Avs development camp so far.

A couple other things:
– Avs will hold a rookie camp this year. Word is it’ll start Sept. 8 at the practice facility. They haven’t had one the last few years, so this will be a nice thing for hardcore fans again.

– Nothing new to report on talks with Ryan O’Reilly. My personal belief is this thing is headed to arbitration, O’Reilly will choose a two-year deal and be traded away before that. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong.

Brendan Lemieux was drafted by the Sabres last month. (Jeff Zelevansky, Getty Images)

In last month’s NHL draft, Denver native Brendan Lemieux was selected with the first pick of the second round, going No. 31 overall to Buffalo. Claude Lemieux’s kid was definitely on the Avalanche’s radar, at No. 23, but Colorado chose to go with a similar 18-year-old forward in Conner Bleackley.

“There were a few teams there [like] Colorado that really stung,” Brendan Lemieux said on the Sabres’ website. “I’m definitely going to love going into their arenas now and making it hard on their guys because they decided to pass me over. I’m just going to use this as fuel. They gave one of the more fiery guys in the draft I’d like to say a lot more fire.”

Lemieux had 27 goals, 26 assists and 53 points in 65 games for the OHL’s Barrie Colts last season. Bleackley had 29-39-68 in 71 games for Red Deer of the WHL. Big difference: Lemieux sat in the penalty box about 100 minutes longer than Bleackley, who served as captain.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.

Chambers covers college and professional hockey for The Denver Post. He has written for the Post since 1994, after dumping his first 9-to-5 office job a couple years out of college. He primarily follows the University of Denver hockey team and helps cover the Avalanche.